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John Elway's vision helped restore Broncos' home-field edge, defense

With their fans' help, the 13-3 Broncos have home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs this season. Opponents are no fans of having to play at altitude. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

"What are some of the emphasis we have? We have to get better on defense — there is no question about that. I think the No. 1 way we do that is we have to get some continuity on the defensive side. We have to get some continuity where guys are under the same system year in and year out and can go out and play. No. 2, we need to win at home. We have lost our home-field advantage, and that is something we need to get back ... to protect our turf up here at 5,280 feet. I am looking forward to the challenge."
— John Elway, at his introductory news conference as the new man in charge of the Broncos' football operations, Jan. 5, 2011

***

Two years later, the Broncos have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and a defense that ranked No. 2 in the NFL this season.

The priorities set by the Broncos' new front-office boss were not unusual. Play better defense and protect the home turf might have been mentioned at many news conferences that formally presented a coach or executive.

What bounced these words from front stage to back wall at the Broncos' team meeting room was that Elway played quarterback in the NFL. A quarterback who on Day One in Denver was proclaimed a savior, and who by his last day had justified the expectation.

"John's smart enough to know that home-field advantage and a defense that you can pack and go anywhere is the secret in January," said Steve Young, an NFL analyst for ESPN and a former quarterback. "Even John Elway or Peyton Manning can have a bad game in January. And if that comes, and you have a defense that can hand the ball back to you enough, good quarterbacks can stop the bleeding."

Rookie lineman Derek Wolfe (95), celebrating one of his six sacks this season, helped the AFC top-seeded Broncos build the No. 2-ranked defense in the NFL. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

When the Broncos meet the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday in an AFC divisional-round playoff game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, the temperature by the 2:30 p.m. kickoff is predicted to be 19 degrees. And fall from there. A cautionary statistic circulating this week: Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is 0-3 in the playoffs when the game-time temperature was less than 40 degrees. Those three games were on the road, of course.

Not mentioned is how those games were played before Manning discovered the warming comforts of a gloved throwing hand, as he did in December.

But even if Manning doesn't have one of his typical 300-yard, three-touchdown performances, the Broncos have to find a way to win anyway.

Photos: NFL

"Offensively, you're probably going to have a bad day once in a while," Elway said this week from his upstairs office at the Broncos' Dove Valley headquarters. "But it's just like in basketball when your shots aren't falling. If you play good defense, you can pull it out."

As a quarterback, Elway led the Broncos to five Super Bowls. He finished his 16-year playing career with NFL championships in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. The Broncos haven't played in the Super Bowl since.

Two years ago this week, Elway was back to Day One again. And again he was asked to resurrect a franchise that was about as far from the Super Bowl as the Broncos had been since they started calling it the Super Bowl.

Interactive: NFL

The No. 2 draft pick, after all, is awarded to the NFL team with the second-worst record. And yet as Elway addressed a room full of media and a Rocky Mountain region of Broncos fans, he didn't mention needing a franchise quarterback. He said nothing about improving a meager running game, bringing in a new set of receiver weapons or fortifying the team's offensive line.

The former quarterback wanted a better defense because a better defense is the best way to feed into the monster that is home-field advantage.

"I just remember as a quarterback, how tough it was playing in those loud stadiums at Kansas City and Pittsburgh in the playoffs," Elway said.

Silent count speaks volumes

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Know where the Broncos' home-field advantage exceeds all others? When they're ahead by two scores in the second half. That's when the altitude really goes to work. That's when Cleveland Browns all-pro offensive tackle Joe Thomas doesn't quite come off the ball as he did in the first half. That's when the Broncos' secondary becomes amused at how Drew Brees' New Orleans Saints receivers rotate out because of fatigue from running route after route after route.

"Dan Reeves once said that when the Broncos were losing, no one mentioned the altitude," said Tom Jackson, a star Broncos linebacker during the Orange Crush era and a longtime ESPN analyst. "And as soon as we started winning, people started telling us how hard it was to breathe here."

An offensive touchdown may draw applause. But a defensive sack incites bedlam. The fans are taught, by Manning's down-waving arms, to stay quiet when the offense has the ball. But they are exhorted, by the Denver defenders' up-waving arms, to cut loose when the other team's quarterback is trying to operate.

"They have to use the silent count," said Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil. "(Offensive) tackles move when they see you move. With the crowd noise, that can be the difference between a quarterback hit and a sack-forced fumble."

Led by Dumervil, Von Miller and Derek Wolfe, the Broncos tied for the league lead with 52 sacks this season.

"I still believe in the end what wins championships is being able to stop people," Jackson said. "But with the rule changes and the evolution of the game to throwing the ball, there is such a lack of defense in this league that you find that the four or five teams that really have one, it's unusual now."

Denver's No. 2 defensive ranking is up 30 spots from where it was when Elway took charge two years ago. The Broncos' 7-1 record at Sports Authority Field this season is their best home performance since 2005.

Fox has a defensive résumé

Note to the NFL teams who are considering Rick Dennison for their head coaching job: Elway liked him.

When Elway was about to make his first head coaching hire for the Broncos a week after he took his executive role, he strongly considered hiring his former teammate, now the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans.

Dennison's Texans will play the New England Patriots on Sunday in Fox- borough, Mass., in the other AFC divisional-round game.

But Elway really liked John Fox too. There were many reasons Fox became the choice, perhaps none more than his coaching background was on the defensive side of the ball.

"The lack of consistency we had on the defensive side of the ball was ridiculous," said Elway, referring to the Broncos' annual hiring of a defensive coordinator. "We had to go defense with our head coach because, then, even if we did lose a defensive coordinator, Foxy would still be here to keep consistency."

A promise made at the lectern is one thing. See the political campaigns every four years and what these politicians actually get done while in office.

But Elway has walked the walk. The Broncos' head coach for 28 of their previous 30 years had been groomed on the offensive side (Reeves, Mike Shanahan and Josh McDaniels). The former quarterback turned front- office boss decided it was time to bring in a defensive guy.

Then, in Elway's first two drafts, he went defensive player with his first pick in each. Miller was the No. 2 pick in 2011. Wolfe was the No. 36 selection in 2012.

"Ernie Accorsi told me if you want to build a winning team, you need two things," Elway said in reference to his personal mentor as an NFL executive. "One, you had better get a quarterback, and then you had better get a guy who can knock down the quarterback. We got the guy who could knock down the quarterback the first year. And then we got Peyton."

But Elway learned through his experience, just as Manning discovered in the past decade or so, that the Super Bowl can't be won on quarterback play alone. Manning has largely been without equal as an NFL quarterback during his 15-year career. Yet he has won only one Super Bowl.

His previous team, the Indianapolis Colts, tried to get by for many years with a soft defense. Elway set out to give Manning something better.

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